10 Reasons Why You’re NOT Beach Body Ready

1. You don’t make it a priority. Getting fit is not about having more time but rather deciding that it’s important to you. More important than 30 minutes of sleep. More important than TV or Facebook. More important than endlessly checking email or Twitter. When you make exercise and healthy eating a MUST and not a should, you will get fit.

2. You thought you could start on Monday. It’s Friday. Why start your diet now? Better to have 1 or 2 last hurrahs this weekend. Drinks and greasy appetizers after work on Friday, pizza and a movie on Saturday. Who starts a diet on Sunday? You have to finish off the last of the bad stuff in the house so you can start fresh on Monday. Meanwhile, you probably just gained 2 more pounds. What if you start right now? Drink a big glass of water. Resolve to make a healthy choice at your very next meal, and then do it. The bowl of Skittles at your colleagues desk – ignore it. Get a friend to meet you for a workout Friday evening instead of happy hour. You could try a yoga or spinning class. If you have to meet your friend, it guarantees you will show up. Remember, you are one meal away from someone who eats healthy and you are one workout away from being someone who makes fitness a priority.

3. You leave your nutrition to chance. Please do not assume that wherever you are, where ever you go, healthy food will be an option. The easiest way to beat this is to bring your food with you. Pack your lunch and don’t forget snacks. Carry water with you, always. If you know you are meeting someone for a meal, check the restaurants in the area ahead of time. Look at their menus online. Decide what you will order ahead of time so you don’t get overwhelmed when you get there or swayed by what everyone else is ordering.

4. You are only doing cardio until you lose weight. This one kills me – for heaven’s sake, get your butt in the weight room!! You will get results much faster and look WAY better if you are doing strength training. If you strength train in a circuit like I suggest in my Red Carpet Ready or my soon to be released I Want My Bikini Body Express program, you will feel like you had an intense cardio workout. Of course to really lose weight, you MUST be eating clean but you know that. Eating clean, along with my strength training circuits will give you the body you long for.

5. You’ve been doing the same routine for 6 months. Just because you lost 10 pounds doing Zumba, The Biggest Loser workout DVD of my super effective I Want My Bikini Body program, doesn’t mean it will continue to work for you. So to keep getting the best results, change your program, every 6 to 8 weeks.

6. You’re trying to crunch your way to better abs. First of all, crunches are not going to burn the fat covering your abs, so you need to clean up your diet and do full body strength workouts and interval style cardio, like in my I Want My Bikini Body Express. Second, you need to upgrade your ab exercises. If you’ve mastered the plank, then it’s time to move on to The Valslide Body Saw, Valslide 1 Arm Slide, Stability Ball Roll Aways, Valligators and Witches Cauldron. You’re abs will love it. You can thank me later.

7. You give up too soon. I know you want your beach body yesterday, but you must persevere and you must be consistent. Enough with the “I’ll workout 3 hours a day and eat less than 1,000 calories”. You cannot sustain that. That doesn’t mean that sometimes you don’t lighten things up occasionally or do a detox, but if you are tired of starting over, stop quitting! I don’t think 3-hour workouts make sense if you’re not a pro athlete so let’s look at something more sustainable, and then sustain it!

8. You don’t know how OR are too tired to cook. You do not need to be a master chef to cook clean. Make an effort to learn a few basic recipes and keep staples on hand. With a little practice and a stocked pantry you can have a healthy dinner on the table faster than the pizza delivery guy can make it to your door.

9. You stay up watching Leno, Conan or Jimmy. Sleep is often the missing ingredient in a weight loss program. I know I asked you to get up earlier to workout but if you are consistently sleep deprived, you will not lose weight. In fact, you may gain weight. So, turn off the TV, computer, etc. Darken the room and get to sleep, ideally before 11. If you are in your 20′s and can sleep later and can’t miss a night out, so be it. Just get your 8 hours – it really truly is important!

10. You give your power away – you tell yourself you can’t do it before you’ve really tried. I assure you, you can lose weight, you can get strong, and you can be fit. Get your best body now. What are you waiting for?

My programs work. So do some other programs. The best ones have some things in common. Here’s your 10-step guide:
1. Decide
2. Commit
3. Focus
4. Eat Clean
5. Lift Weights – circuits are best
6. Do interval style cardio
7. Sleep – 8 hours a day
8. Drink more water. More than that!
9. Don’t quit
10. Believe in you. You need to believe too.